A New Jersey couple who brought their own vegan pasta to a restaurant were not thrilled to find out they were being charged more than if they had just ordered off the menu, leading to the police and American Express getting involved in a finger-pointing fight between diners and owners. [More]
restaurants
After A Dine-And-Dash, Is It Legal For A Restaurant To Take Money From A Waiter’s Tips?
By 4.2.13 — Updated: 5.23.17
It’s a story we’ve heard any number of times, both professionally and from friends in the restaurant world. A customer splits without paying the bill, or doesn’t leave enough to cover the full amount; to make up for the loss, the manager takes it out of the waiter’s pay. Can this be legal? [More]
Panera Expanding Pay-What-You-Want Model To All Of St. Louis, But Only On One Item
By 3.27.13
It’s been three years since sandwich chain Panera opened its first pay-what-you-want eatery, where customers can disregard the listed menu price and pay what they can afford or what they feel the meal is worth. The company soon added others in a handful in other cities. Now the eatery says it is expanding the model to all 48 Paneras in and around St. Louis, though it will only involve one menu item. [More]
Is This Comped Olive Garden Receipt The Real Deal Or Just Viral Marketing?
By 3.27.13
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When a restaurant receipt story gets wildly popular online, it’s usually because a horrible customer leaves a rude message or because a restaurant staffer insults a diner, but occasionally it’s a happy story about an eatery doing something nice. Question is, are restaurants beginning to fake these stories for positive PR? [More]
Restaurant Uses Twitter To Shame People Who Blew Off Reservations
By 3.26.13
Allowing diners to reserve tables can be a risky proposition for restaurant-owners, as the business may have to turn away walk-in customers based solely on the reservation-holders’ say-so that they are going to show up. When the diners fail to materialize, it can mean lost business to the eatery, which is why one L.A. restaurant recently decided to start naming names of no-shows on Twitter. [More]
Restaurant Imposes 1% Property Maintenance Fee On Tabs, Hopes No One Notices
By 3.1.13
When you go out to eat, you generally pay the price on the menu, then a tip for the service staff. Should you also have to pay an extra fee for the maintenance of the building and grounds of the restaurant? One Florida restaurant thought so…at least, until the “personal usage fee” caught the attention of a local TV channel. Then the fee suddenly disappeared. [More]
Restaurant Lets Non-Customer Use Bathroom, Sends Her Bill For $5
By 2.28.13
Somewhere between “no non-customers in the bathroom, no exception” and operating a mini-homeless shelter in the middle of your restaurant is a happy medium. We don’t think that compromise is the approach that a Tennessee restaurant took, which was to track down a non-customer using her license plate information and send her a bill for the restroom fee. $5. [More]
Philadelphia Restaurant Wants Horse On The Menu Since That’s Going Over So Well In Europe
By 2.25.13
While our European brethren are in the midst of a full-on horsemeat freak out, here in the States we’re probably safe from accidentally ingesting horse in the guise of beef. But one Philadelphia restaurant thinks people would love a bite of equine fare and is aiming to add horse to the menu. On purpose. [More]
This Waffle House Adds 20% Surcharge To Pay For Security
By 2.15.13
Used to be, if a business wanted to spend money to bolster its security, it would have to eat that cost or pass it on to the customer in the form of higher prices. But one Atlanta Waffle House has decided to keep the menu prices the same, and just tack on a 20% surcharge to cover the extra security cost. [More]
San Francisco Restaurant Ordered To Fork Over $525,000 In Back Pay To Employees
By 2.13.13
Employees at a restaurant in San Francisco were working up to 14 hours a day, six days a week for only $4/hour. But now, in the largest settlement of its kind in the city, the restaurant owners will pay out $525,000 in back wages and penalties. [More]
‘Bitter Barista’ Blogger Fired; No Longer A Barista
By 2.13.13
When you run a blog that anonymously posts poison-pen critiques of the customers who come into your store, you know you’re running the risk of losing that job should your employer find out. [More]
Waiter Who Wouldn’t Serve Family That Insulted Boy With Down Syndrome Didn’t Care If He Got Fired
By 2.8.13
You may remember the story from mid-January of the waiter at a Houston restaurant who refused to serve a family because they had insulted a boy with Down Syndrome in the next booth. Not everyone would have made such a stand, especially when it could mean losing one’s job. [More]
Restaurants Making Big Money Off Diners’ Decisions To Eat Healthy
By 2.8.13
“Do you want fries with that?” used to be sort of a no-brainer question because, yes, of course, we all want fries with that, no matter what “that” is because fries are delicious. They’re what you eat at a fast food joint, right? Not so much anymore. Sure, people still love fries, but they also love healthier items and non-sugary drinks. And that’s actually profitable for fast food chains, so everyone’s happy. [More]
Should Diners Be Rewarded For Well-Behaved Kids, Or Should That Just Be The Norm?
By 2.5.13
We’ve seen the joy that can spread when restaurant employees type in an personalized discount on diner’s receipts — perhaps complimenting the customer or simply giving a discount to wish a mother-to-be luck. In another recent case of a generous restaurant server, the worker gave a family $4 off the bill for having “well behaved kids.” Sweet, right? Or should it just be expected that if you’re dining out, you keep your kids under control?
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Smart Move Or Bad Service? Restaurant Calls Cops On Diner Who Claims He Left His Wallet In Hotel Room
By 1.25.13
It’s a nightmare situation for any consumer: You’ve just finished your expensive meal and suddenly realize you can’t pay because you don’t have your wallet. How do you convince the restaurant manager to cut you some slack? What if they won’t? [More]
More Than 50 San Francisco Restaurants Accused Of Scamming Customers & Employees By Pocketing Health Care Surcharge
By 1.25.13
For more than four years, dozens of restaurants in San Francisco have been tacking on surcharges to diners’ bills, claiming that the money was to go toward health care costs. But it turns out that millions of those dollars were just going into restaurant owners’ pockets. [More]
Is It Rude To Take Photos Of Your Food In A Restaurant?
By 1.24.13
Since the earliest days of photo sharing, shutterbugs have been posting images of their restaurant meals online for all to see. That behavior has only become more common through the use of Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and whatever other service was launched yesterday. Now some chefs say it’s gone too far. [More]
Does Having An ID Card Saying You’re An Online Reviewer Make You A Savvy Consumer Or A Jerk?
By 1.22.13
With the growing popularity of — and the culture’s growing reliance on — online review sites like Yelp, a small subset of reviewers have tried to dangle the sword of a negative review over the heads of business-owners in order to not just get good service, but get preferential treatment. [More]
